When the last SLAM soccer game for the season wrapped up at Karreenga Correctional Centre last year, volunteer Bobby Iuga and his teammates were presented with a gift from the Karreenga inmates – a hand-carved and painted skateboard the men had turned into a custom plaque.
Painted on the front was an image of a soccer ball over broken chains, while another was inscribed with the words hope, gratitude, faith, valued, appreciation, recognition and community. On the back was a message of thanks, a note written by a group of men thankful for the love of God they had been shown.
Every six or so weeks, volunteer teams like Bobby’s visit prisons throughout Victoria under the SLAM banner, connecting with inmates through a fun (but competitive!) game of soccer or basketball. SLAM, which stands for ‘Sport Lights a Message’, is a ministry Bobby first got involved in as a teenager. “I was always playing as a kid, and in 2007 I committed my life to God. So for me, SLAM was an opportunity to marry ministry with sport.”
Before each game, Bobby’s team meets at their church to make the 2+ hour drive to prisons in Melbourne’s western suburbs. They’ll play, and then afterwards will present a ‘best and fairest’ award. “There’s usually 20-30 inmates at each game – the players, and then more on the sidelines cheering. After the game we’ll hand out a medal or two, and then we’ll share a 5-10 minute message. It might be somebody’s testimony – how they came to know Christ – or a parable, or some other way to present the Gospel.”
“Often after we share, one of the more vocal guys will say thank you, that they appreciate the time we spend there. When we’re chatting afterwards, some of the other guys who might be less confident speaking publicly will also come up and say something like, ‘Look, I’m not a public speaker, but I just want to say I really take on board the things you guys share with us, and I’m trying to get my life together.’ That is pretty special.”
“Sometimes people will ask why we don’t go into the prison and preach an hour-long sermon instead of playing sport…”
“But a sermon is not something everyone is going to respond to. Sport is a doorway in.”
“We’ve had prison staff tell us ‘Once we advertise SLAM, we see the best behaviour coming through.’ The guys want to make sure there’s no drama and that they’re available. I’ve been surprised when some guys have said they’ve told their family not to visit when we’re coming in, because they want to be part of the game. To which you kind of think, that’s so bizarre! Wouldn’t you rather see your own family?! But it goes to show how much they appreciate it.”
“In one prison, we had to have a five-year absence because of COVID lockdowns. But now, even talking with new staff who don’t have a history with SLAM, they’ll say, ‘Look, we don’t know how all this works, but we’d love to keep it going. We can see how it’s improving inmates’ well-being.’ Sometimes I’ll ask what date we can come in, and they’ll just say “We’ll work around you. You just be here when you can.”
“At another prison, staff told us that inmates didn’t use to play soccer all that much, but since SLAM has come in, they train almost daily. They’re making sure they’re ready to give us a challenge, getting their team chemistry going. It brings a sense of community, even when we’re not there.”
“I think teamwork is an important lesson in maturing from a boy into a man. Working through different challenges together, I think it helps these guys, especially if they haven’t been in an environment like that before.”
“When we share our message, we know those are seeds that can fall on different ground. You’ll get that good soil that will eventually bring forth fruit, while other ground might be more hardened. But it’s like that verse in Romans 10:14, ‘Without hearing, how will they believe?’ The end result, that’s not in our control. But how can they believe if they have not heard? We share, and let God do the work.”
“We just want to show them there’s a way forward – that prison doesn’t have to define their future. There are consequences for our actions in life, but God always gives us that second chance to move forward, to learn. Just because I didn’t end up in jail, that doesn’t mean I didn’t have sin in my life, sin I needed to repent of and turn to God. It’s by His grace I’ve been able to do that, and that’s freely available to anyone.”
“When we share, you can see guys nodding, and you even get the odd ‘Amen!’ Sometimes in the past guys walked off – that was a little discouraging. But for the last couple of years, it’s like you could hear a pin drop. It’s just silence. If there’s somebody walking past chatting, the men hush them, saying ‘We’ve got a thing going on here, you know? Keep it down!’”
“We’ve seen guys respond in different ways. Some have asked for prayer, saying that they feel God is working in their life, and could we pray about this particular thing? We’ve had guys who have wanted to accept and follow Christ, and we’ve been able to pray the sinner’s prayer with them. One guy recently shared that he grew up in the church but lost his way, and that having us there felt like he was back at home. He said it had challenged him to get his life back on track with God.”
“In the past I’ve known some prison officers who had the mentality of, ‘These men aren’t worth it, I don’t even know why you’re running this program.’ But now there’s been a shift. They are so open. They ask, ‘How much time do you need for the sharing and presentation at the end? Make sure you don’t miss that out.’”
“Being given that skateboard at Karreenga, that was a humbling experience… seeing God at work in these men’s hearts. We go in to bring these guys a message of hope. Being able to see them work together and give back to us, that’s so encouraging. A similar thing happened at Marngoneet Correctional Centre a few years ago. The guys worked with prison staff to print out ‘thank you certificates’ for us, writing out each of our names and telling us, ‘You always bring us medals, we just wanted to give back to you.’”
“When those things happen, you can see the change God is working in their hearts. They can see the love of God we come in with, and that rubs off onto them. So then they bless us.”
“Sometimes, rather than awarding ‘best and fairest’, we’ll give a medal to a guy who was good at communicating or encouraging others. He’ll be shocked, saying something like, ‘I didn’t expect to get this, thank you’. You can see the appreciation.”
“I think it’s important for these guys to take something positive out of what is generally a negative experience. They’re encouraged; able to see there is a different way of living. They’re able to see that there is hope.”
When it comes to the competition, Bobby gives insight into the scorecard: “They win most of the time,” he says. “They are very good! We are skilled, but we’re just not as fit anymore! They are too good. The last time at Karreenga, they beat us significantly, 10-3. Even when we win, it’s a fairly close margin. Very rarely is a blowout in our favour!”
“I tell my kids, I would love to take them into jails in the next 10 or 15 years and pass on this ministry to them as we get older. We would love to see this ministry live on in the next generation.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN A SLAM TEAM? If you’re based in Victoria and want to share the love of Jesus with inmates on the soccer field or basketball court, register your interest here. Not from Victoria? You can still volunteer in other ways! Share your details and we’ll be in touch about opportunities near you.
